When we encounter an iceberg in the open sea, as formidable as it appears over the horizon, what we are encountering is but a small fraction of its entire mass.

Similarly, organizational politics and game playing, as frustrating and wasteful as they can be, only represent a minor symptom of a much greater problem that lies deeply rooted within the very fabric of the organization.
In the near term the impact includes the following:
1. Compromising of the quality of feedback coming from the business environment that works its way up through the organizational structure all the way to senior management.
2. A significant decline in innovativeness, and as well as a dramatic increase in bureaucratic rigidity.
3. Toxification of the organizational culture - The greatest impact is only fully experienced after a period of time - that being the poisoning of the well of the organizational culture. Competitiveness replaces cooperation at all levels within the organization. Ultimately, the organizational loses touch with the outside world as a kind of psychosis sets in. From this point onwards total collapse is inevitable.

Those within the organization can be divided into three personality types - Persuaders, Soldiers, and Free Spirits. Inside the Free Spirit category itself, we find original thinkers, creatives, and those with a strong internal moral compass.
These three personality types when place in the two roles will interact in predictable ways. When placed in a larger group context these interactional patterns generate a characteristic structure. I refer to this as the Circle Square Pattern. Its key features are:
1. A tight inner circle at the top dominated by Persuaders (the Circle)
2. A rigid and compliant management structure in the middle dominated by the Soldiers (the Square)
3. The Circle and the Square combine to create a cult like atmosphere throughout the organization. The third category, the Free Spirits, is either marginalized or ejected.

As this phenomenon is literally part of our social DNA, it is hard to find an organization anywhere in which it is not present to some degree. This then presents a great opportunity for those business leaders bold enough to tackle it. Though it can appear overwhelming, it is actually easier to fix than one might imagine. The solution involves reversing the skew that lies behind it.

Rather than attempt to overhaul the entire structure it is sufficient to achieve a certain critical mass after which the organization will spontaneously shift. The structure then will either bend to accommodate the new paradigm, or fall away completely; yielding to a new more flexible structure whose premise is harmonization rather than organization.